10 Christian Stereotypes I Hate

I hate when people assume certain things about me without getting to know who I am. You probably hate that too! Whenever people figure out I am a pastor at a Christian church, they tend to always assume the following:

1. Cussing around me is a no-no. Really? I’m honored that you feel the need to change your attitude/language around me, but you don’t need to try and be on “good behavior” when we are together. Typically, I’m not offended by your language and its not like I have never heard it before. I would rather you just be yourself than trying to be someone else for me.

2. I don’t like homosexuals. I understand why you may have gotten this impression considering some of the ridiculous Christians out there. But, I love them. To be honest, I don’t know why so many of my Christian brothers and sisters elevate this specifically over everything else. When it comes down to it, I love homosexuals just as much as I love you. I wish Christians would fight as passionately against poverty and sex trafficking as they do homosexuality.

3. I don’t drink alcohol. Now you won’t catch me passed out on the floor drunk, but to assume that I don’t drink at all because of my faith is a bit of an overstatement. After all, the first miracle Jesus did was turn water into wine, He knows how to keep the party going.

4. I don’t like to have fun. This probably has a lot to do with rule #3. Because “I don’t drink” then it can be assumed that I don’t like to have fun. Quite the contrary, it just means I have learned to have fun without the need of over intoxicating myself.

5. I’m judging you because you act differently than me. If I have come to realize one thing it is that nobody is perfect. Don’t worry about trying to hide your flaws or your differences because I’m not judging you anyways. Those who judge will be judged and I don’t want any part of that.

6. I am ignorant or uneducated about beliefs other than my own. Actually, it is not “my way or the highway.” Obviously, I, like the rest of Christians, spend most of my time trying to understand my own faith, but to say that I have shut my eyes to everything else in the world is absurd. Don’t assume I have no clue of what exists outside of Christianity.

7. I think I’m better than you. Somehow, because I am Christian, you assume I believe I am better than you. I understand you might get this impression from some of those who wear the Christian name tag, but humility is one of Christianity’s greatest attributes. I don’t think I am better than you regardless of who you are or what you’ve done. We are all on our own journey and everyone’s look a little bit different.

8. I’m Republican. Laugh. Out. Loud. No comment.

9. I ignore science. You might be under the assumption that things like the “Big Bang” and natural selection kill my theory for religion, so I just ignore them altogether. The truth is, I love science and it doesn’t crumble my faith at all. I am just as interested as you are to see how God did it and have yet to come across something that totally shakes my faith to the core on whether or not there was a creator.

10. I’m a hypocrite. Unfortunately, you probably assume this for righteous reasons because you have seen it a lot. But, I want to break the stereotype and say what I mean and do what I say. Of course I fall short just like everyone else, but I am never preaching something that I’m not willing to do in my own life.

Granted, there are probably a lot of Christians out there who meet every single one of these, but don’t assume we are all the same!

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I applaud you attempt to clear up some misconceptions, not only about yourself but about Christianity and the teachings of Christ. But as you see from the majority of comments, “they” (as in many Christians) don’t get it.

I, and my family are Baha’i. The only difference in our behaviour and what you wrote is that we actually do NOT drink. (we believe that any substance that alters the mind also prevents us from communing in an optimum way with God). My daughter was gravely hurt at the age of fourteen when she was told by a “Christian” that she was going to Hell. But that is us and, like you, I will not judge you or preach against you. I believe it says in the Bible (and I am likely paraphrasing here) “In my father’s house are many mansions.” I take this to mean that God accepts ALL who worship Him no matter what label it is given.

I was especially happy to see that you do not condemn people who believe differently from yourself and that you are familiar with the beliefs of other religions. I hope that extends to my Faith as well. Baha’is accept Christ as one of the messengers of God, on a par with Baha’u’llah, who we believe is the most recent and current one. Yet, those who as immersed in dogma instead of what Christ really taught are filled with fear and hate toward us and see us as a cult.

It seems that many fail to remember the most important thing Christ taught, the same thing you will find in ALL the major world religions. That is the Golden Rule – treat others as you would like to be treated – with love and respect. That, sadly, seems to be missing in many of the comments above.

My husband’s cousin is a United Church minister. Thankfully, he, too, is enlightened.

Thank you for your post. If it opens the eyes of only one, it will be worth it.

Jesus simplified it for us folks. (1) Love God; (2) Love others. Done. And yet, there’s about 10,000 words of bickering and snarking here that serves absolutely no Christ-like purpose. In fact, most of the words written in these comments are causing harm. You are making this harder for the those of us trying to grow the Kingdom of God. And you’re doing it from a position of pride, i.e. “I’m right and your wrong.” Humility is called for.

The party-goers marveled that the wine served at the end of the party was of higher quality than the wine served at the beginning of the party. In other words: it wasn’t grape juice. That said, just because you and I disagree on that specific topic is not a reason to express how “sickening” you find those of us who believe slightly differently than you do. Be a peace-maker.

Actually, if people were drunk with that ‘wine’ then they would not have known it was better quality. The word ‘wine’ in that context is not the same as ‘wine’ in our world. The better quality ‘wine’ of that day was pure grape juice, not reconstituted….and yes, it was grape juice…not intoxicating wine.

Actually his statement was “….knows how to keep the party going”. There is a difference. There really is little difference between “wine”[yayin] and “new wine” [tirosh] — See Hosea 4:11. That being said, maybe you can check Psalm 104:15, Gen 27:28, Matthew 11:19, Luke 7:34. For general hydration, “wine” was often diluted with water so as not to risk intoxication, and to sterilize the water. But make no mistake, scripture does not speak against the consumption of wine, just the abuse of the consumption of wine (Ephesians 5:18, 1 Tim 5:23, 1 Cor 11:21, Gal 5:21, Luke 21:34). Jewish weddings (the “party” being referred to) included wine provided by the host (in heaven, that would be The Father). Jewish weddings are an archtype of our relationship with Christ, and the marriage supper of The Lamb will certainly be a party and there is still yet fruit of the vine to be consumed (Matthew 26:29).

It’s actually talking about real wine in that case…for the wedding. It would have been real wine as it would have been in insult to serve watered down wine or juice at a wedding in that culture. There are close to 60 verses in the bible that use wine as a metaphor in a positive way. One such verse actually compares weakness to being “Watered down wine”.

I agree wit you. I would like for the person using the phrase “jesus turned water into wine” to even find da scripture. Many people say Jesus drank da wine which u will not find in da bible.
Thats jus a modernized Christian conforming to the worlds easy religion.

You know what I would like? I’d like you illiterates that type in ebonics to please stop butchering the English language out of sheer incompetence and laziness. This is a retarded argument to begin with‎, and making it more retarded through intentional illiteracy is maddening.

Love this… One quote that has stayed with me for years was spoken by a man who had seen much in life. “There are a lot of good Christians in the world. Unfortunately, you don’t find many of them in churches.”

I disagree. EVERY committed Christian I’ve met in my admittedly small circle has been a churchgoer. “Forsake ye not the gathering of yourselves.” The Lord knows we need a support group, and a sense of belonging to something larger than ourselves. It is for our benefit, not His.

Jesus wasn’t a partyer. The Bible says He was a man of sorrows and He did not come in peace, but brought a sword. The modern “hip” church continues to paint Jesus as something He was not. He was not a long-haired, partying, peace promoting hippie who was okay with what everyone was doing. In fact, when He healed people and forgave people He also commanded them to stop sinning. He stood against sin, commanded people to stop and stood against religious hypocrisy…to the point of death.

Jesus Himself said, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
And you can party without condoning sinful actions.

The Word instructs that we should not do anything that could make a brother/sister stumble; be considerate of one another, realizing not all are at the same level spiritually. Although i too believe it is not a sin to drink wine, it could be a stumbling block to brethren. Being a leader in the church, whether a pastor, sunday school teacher, worship leader, etc.., carries a responsibility. We are an example. If a church member with a drinking problem watches his pastor drink, that could potentially make him stumble with an “if he can, I should be able to” attitude. Or someone who didn’t drink, may begin to and could have a drinking problem. Yes, we are our brothers keeper. The more we give selflessly, the more like Jesus we are. The more we let go of things of the world, such as wine, the more like Jesus we are able to become. Our spiritual eyes and ears are not fogged with things of the world. Also, we should not be around foul language or be tolerant of it or the Lord’s name being used in vain. Or nudity in movies, foul language on media, violence that cheapens life, including in video games. These are sins against our Holy God. Sin is sin to the Lord. We should turn a foul conversation’s tone or otherwise excuse ourselves from the situation; again we are an example. “Shining stars in a dark world.” We should thank people for their consideration if they state an apology. These people are sinning and we are letting them go down if we just tolerate it without being “the salt of the earth.”
We all choose who our spiritual leaders are, at least in the United States currently. This gentlemen fits the bill for some; yes probably less mature spiritually. But better they come somehow than not at all? And the Holy Spirit may lead them to move on once they have grown a bit. We cannot judge this man or other pastors like him, rather we should pray that they be filled with the holy spirit and follow the lords will. For teachers carry a heavy responsibility and he/they will all be held accountable for any they lead astray or those they make stumble. (If you know the Word of God, then you know that all said above is scriptural.) Only the Holy Spirit can convict him and other “people pleasing” pastors of the Lords will in their teaching and in their example to the body of Christ they lead. We are not to judge, but pray for one another and love one another. We still have the freedom to choose our leaders and to be an example to others as the Holy Spirit leads us. We are to shine His light to others. We are to be a “peculiar people” in this world of pleasure seekers……

I knew you were going to get a lot of self-righteous people banging you over the head with their Bibles and telling you how horrible of a Christian you are. THESE are the people who cause others to stumble because their self-righteousness make the bile rise up in anyone who has respect for a God who truly walks with us and took on our humanity.

Still love this post and would bet the people screaming Bible verses at you are some pretty odious individuals to be around. Only when we see Christ in His humanity can we truly love others.

Part of this post that you love (and one that resonates most with me, in fact) is that Christians won’t judge others who act differently than them. This woman is not exempt from non-judgement because she is, like you, a Christian. To bet that she and others who “scream Bible verses” at this author are odious individuals is still a judgement, and a possible negative impression of Christians.

I don’t necessarily agree with her opinion either, but don’t want to assume anything about her character based on it. She is my sister in Christ and I still love her, as I do you.

What people in our world need to see, both Christian and otherwise, is the practice of MODERATION! Why? Because anything other than moderation tells the people around us that we actually believe that evil exists in-and-of-itself, as a natural part of existence, as intrinsic to reality–and therefore a necessary element of reality rather than the unnatural aberration Scripture identifies sin to be. Then, when we tell them that God is both good and all-powerful, they get lost in theodicy! Instead, we need to stay true to Scripture, where in Romans Paul explains that evil begins and ends in the hearts of human persons, in the hidden and secret desires of our hearts. The intent of Scripture is not to prohibit actions and turn the faith of Jesus Christ into another list of dos-and-don’ts, but rather to show that all things can be engaged from a perspective of rightly ordered affections, from a disposition of the heart that reflects the love defined and exemplified in Phil. 2! If we are not to do anything that might could cause someone else to stumble, we rob ourselves of our freedom in Christ and bring ourselves back under condemnation of the law of sin and death, not to mention those to whom we hope to be a witness and light that points to Christ! Becoming like Christ is not a process of purging ourselves of the things of the world but of filling ourselves with the love of Christ! We don’t shine as a light in a dark world by proving our moral superiority to others but by loving others–treating them as more important than ourselves, as Paul writes in Phil. 2:1-4–and that requires a reality check where we understand our own position as completely dependent on the grace of God and in no way better than the worst of sinners! Until we learn that the law of love is not the same as our legalistic pride and moralistic delusions, we will continue to fail our world in bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to our dying people, because if we don’t understand love, legalism becomes our gospel, which is no gospel at all but just the same old message of bondage that the world gets from everyone else.

“tells the people around us that we actually believe that evil exists in-and-of-itself, as a natural part of existence, as intrinsic to reality–and therefore a necessary element of reality rather than the unnatural aberration Scripture identifies sin to be.”
Not sure what you are saying here – that evil does not exist in-and-of-itself? Not biblical.
Unfortunately evil does exist – Satan is mentioned many times in the Word, as is evil mentioned.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12
and also
Moderation is not Biblical.
“Then He (Jesus) said to them all. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” Luke 9:23-24
and
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, reveiries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spiurit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, fathfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

I too stated drinking wine is not a sin. but “spiritual” leaders should take responsibility in their leadership and abstain from those things of the world/flesh that could make brethren stumble.
“Deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me…..”
Each Christian must seek God in every aspect of their lives and ask, am I shining the light of the Lord? We can be loving, grace filled and non-judgmental WITHOUT drinking ourselves, without cussing ourselves, without sinning ourselves. The Word states that we are to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” We don’t have to drink to enable us to love others who are drinking. You aren’t judging because you aren’t partaking. If you are the light in the darkness that others may look up to, envy what you have inside you, see something in you they may want (like self-control, Joy, love, etc); they just may call on you when they need someone and ask for prayer or receive the Lord as their savior. I have had that happen to me more than once. “Be ready to have an answer for any who ask about the hope they see in you.”

Sir, I think you better look in the mirror and decide who you belong to: Satan or God. When a person becomes a believer, who they believe is a reflection of what they do and from your viewpoint, you haven’t set yourself apart from this world that will certainly perish one day. The Bible tells each born again believer to separate oneself…and from your viewpoint, you have definately not done so!!!

I think the bible says we should proclaim CHRIST from the rooftops. As a Christian, which I assume you are based on what you said, why did you sign anonymously? You sound less educated about the bible and more afraid of what people think of you for being a Christian.

A number of things… 1) This world will not pass away. God is in the business of REDEEMING our world, not destroying it and re-creating it. When Jesus says that this heavens and earth will pass away but his words will not pass away, he’s using a classic expression to emphasize the authoritative nature of his words: that is, these heavens and earth are not going to pass away, so his words will are even more certain to endure! God is a God of RESURRECTION, and Christianity is a Faith of RESURRECTION, not re-creation! 2) How are we to differentiate ourselves from the world? By our moral superiority? I hardly think so, because even the heathen can be moral–sometimes more moral than Christians, according to the legalistic keeping of their rules of conduct. God is interested with the inner motivation of the heart, whether what is intentioned is produced by love or not. They will know we are Christians how? By our moral keeping of the law, but by our love for one another! What love? Take a look at Phil. 2:1-4 and 5-11. Pay careful attention to vv. 1-4, because 5-11 is the support for the argument, not the argument itself. 3) Sin is sin, yes, but what makes sin sin? Is it a deontological list of rules? No. Rather, sin is sin not because it involves any particular action but because it involves a malicious intent of the heart. Sexual intercourse can be a sinful act or a beautiful act of worship of God. Killing can be murder or a harsh form of love. The law of love has liberated us to joyful obedience in Jesus Christ!

The closer we draw to our Lord and worship Him in spirit and truth, and the more we walk in the spirit, then the less we sin, then the more readily we deny ourselves and drop the things of the world – with joy, and then, the more we are able to truly love others. To love others is to be more concerned WITH THEIR SOUL AND ETERNAL LIFE, THEN WHAT THEY THINK OF US HERE. WE GRIEVE FOR THEIR SOULS, WE INTERCEDE “WITH GROANING” FOR OUR LOST FAMILY AND FRIENDS. The closer we draw to our Father, the more we allow the “transforming of our minds.” We ask every day, what do you want me to do Lord? Where to go, what to say, what to pray, who to help, who to shine your light on today, who to give blessings; it is a glorious life to be surrendered to the will of our Lord. I HAVE LIVED LUKEWARM. TO THE LUKEWARM HE SAYS HE WILL SPEW YOU OUT – IT IS NOT A GOOD WAY TO LIVE. When we ask, what do you want me to do today Lord, SIN IS NEVER HIS ANSWER. Jesus says, “If you love me you will obey me.” You can’t obey the Lord Jesus without knowing His awesome Word. The Bible, that which tells us everything we need to know regarding how to conduct ourselves while here on earth.

Wow, lots of judgement going on here. You had to know that when you posted you would draw the ire of the self-righteous.

Sigh. Great post. I love your humanity. And, sometimes, a well-placed swear word is needed. When Jesus was upending the money changers tables, I have to believe he had some choice words for them. He was the Son of God AND the Son of Man.

So many judgemental comments. Don’t judge someone because they sin differently than you, that’s right we are all sinners. Get off your high horses, for this is what makes un-believers feel they can never “accomplish” Christianity. If the cause is leading souls to Christ (not separating yourselves from them), are you helping or hurting it?

Love and humility. Amen. Yes Jesus is the Great Partyer and I agree that drinking isnt a sin. Your point is valid. but, lets also not swing to the side of well Jesus turned water into wine for goodness sakes so….live it up. Wine was their beverage in the middle east. if you have truly seen the Son of God, been in a step of his fiery eyes everything in you cries out for righteousness and holiness and to desire the new wine that comes not from a bottle but straight from His river. And to say laugh out loud about being a Republican actually sounds a bit like what you are preaching against…not to cause division. I get some of your points for sure. And maybe you are being light hearted. Yet until they find a political party that stands as strongly against abortion as Republicans do not sure your statement about Republicans is very honoring when you seem to be preaching honor.

It is amazing how fast all the stereotyped Christians rushed to pop up in the comments with semi-literate and agressive rebuffs. “Speak of the devil and he doth appear”, indeed. Ironically, it can be seen as a proof by contradiction that God exists. At least, it shows none of the stereotypes have been made up. They’re all real.

That’s a well worded and nicely put article.
I personally spend a lot of time directing a lot of the things within faiths I perceive as nonsense, mainly due to the crazies out there that spend most of their time making the rest of you look bad.
Nice to see its possible for someone to have your beliefs, and still be grounded. That was a genuine pleasure to read.

Also, I really like how all of these ‘christians’ turn on you like a rabid dog when your beliefs don’t identically match yours. Nice to know that you’ll at least know the kind of ‘faithful’ that will turn on you at a seconds notice eh?
And just for all of you that spazzed out over the bullshit republican argument, allow me as an outsider to settle it for you.
I don’t think there’s a problem with someone being one, unfortunately they have a problem keeping their fattest, loudest, most dumbassed members off the TV. And that makes all of you look like blithering, inbred retards.
You’re welcome.

I never thought I would reply to this… I thought for the most part, you were spot on ( I personally lean to the conservative / republican / libertarian side of politics) LOL..

Tolerance. My sin may not be your sin. However, sin is sin, and I am certainly not sinless. Getting all worked up and immediately defensive over Jesus being a “partier” seems just a bit silly to me. Jesus certainly drank wine. Certainly of varying strengths and potencies from time to time. Being and representing ourselves as Christians does not make us “Gods”. We struggle daily with the temptations of the flesh. We write blog posts that are meant with some sort of tongue in cheek levity, only to have it get blow up into a fine example of intolerance and “holier than tho” discussion, while we vehemently proclaim that our belief is the only RIGHT answer.

Maybe this speaks directly to the writers point concerning the perceptions of many Christians. I work very hard to not be a hypocrite. I am not Jesus. I would never presume to think that I could be anywhere close to Jesus.

We should work together on being accepting of others. We should drink and dine with the tax collectors. Discuss theology sanely and calmly. Promote our ideas without appearing condescending to the opinions and beliefs of those we seek to introduce to Jesus. We certainly should not be combative in our approach to our testimonial ministry. You (the reader) , may have had your own “God moment / revelation / awakening” and I may have had mine. Me offering to you that your moment doesnt count … simply because it wasnt like mine… implies that God’s love can only reach me if I act like you do.

“Love one another”

Very simple. very easy to understand. Go forth and make disciples of Christ. I have never read it to say “Go forth and make Calvinists , Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Southern Baptist, Assembly of God, Church of Christ or United Methodists…. Simply make disciples for Christ.

This blog should not have started an argument, but given us something we could all smile at as we read it and nodded our heads.

Well put! I loved the post. I laughed at it! I then shook my head at all the arguments that followed……from the big squabbling family that we are! Hahaha. Silly us. No wonder the world doesn’t take us seriously at times..we’re too busy fighting amongst ourselves!

A very brave post and especially well done for tackling the homosexual issue (such a hot topic and you’re nailed to the wall whether your for/against/neutral!

God bless all the people that chose to write. Clearly this post stirs something, or they wouldn’t have bothered. At the end of the day, ‘we all see in part’ (I realise I’ve taken this out of context as its about prophesy, so please don’t nail me on this one!) and we are all being sanctified by He ‘who is continuing the good work’….in short, NONE of us have it all together, all right, or know everything…..

….so whats the answer? Grace, grace, grace! Grace for our ‘liberal’ brothers and sisters and grace for our more ‘conservative’ ones. I was raised in a conservative borderline cult and am only now, in my 30’s, truly beginning to understand the tip of the grace iceberg. So I’ve got a pretty good handle on both ends of the spectrum and try to have grace for both ends.

Parting words to all….’but the greatest of these is love’….’that lays down his life (desires, opinions, offences) for his brother’. Ask YOURSELF (gracious and conservative person) is LOVE at the centre of this opinion I am having right now? Am I judging other’s through the eyes of love? Or through offence and fear and the need to control? Am I easy going OR really uptight because I am wanting to please the people group that I find myself in? Or am I wanting to please the loving God that created me AND created the person standing in front of me that is really offending me?

Aah I could go on and on….and probably will at some stage….having come from a graceless existence that did nothing but bring me acute and crushing shame…I am now a staunch advocate for grace, love and acceptance. I am called to love, not judge. I am called to seek after His voice and, as His sheep and able to hear that voice, I’m sure He’ll tell me as and when I get it wrong…I’ll then change and make that a vocal change if need be.

Bless you all on your journey. May you continue to seek after He that rejoices over you with singing, that calls you by name, that created ALL of us in our mother’s womb, that has a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us, that sent His one son, Jesus, to die for us, so that we could live with Him for eternity. Bless you all and bless Brett Shoemaker that wrote this article. He’s a courageous one!

Good grief…. I absolutely love this post and can identify with so many of these stereotypes. I grew up in a very conservative church oriented culture, which is fine for some, just not me 🙂 I love the foundation I was brought up with, but I had to step out of the conservative atmosphere myself because it simply wasn’t me. Anyways, all I’m saying is that there are differing opinions and interpretations of the Bible for a reason. We all see different aspects oft the same truth. We all see a different facet of Jesus’ personality, His quirks, His love. We cannot forget this. There may be tons of different denominations out there, but we all worship the same God. Just because some persons views don’t match mine exactly doesn’t mean I don’t respect them as a fellow believer. A side note, I do believe that Jesus knew how to party 🙂 He had so much more personality than we ever give Him credit for.

So, The way I understand what the last anonymous is saying is ….being “of the flesh” is “bad” because it is less than divine??? Using that line of reasoning, The computer is not biblical. Running water and indoor plumbing is not biblical… Cars are not biblical…

Understanding IS biblical. Understanding the context of written passages, either in the bible or out of the bible, is the necessity. In my opinion (heathen that I am), interpretation of the written word, in the context of the surrounding story, is the key to understanding the meaning of the passage. The same applies to blog posts.

Progress and the evolution of society is shown in great detail through the Old Testament. Closed-mindedness (is that even a word?) is overcome many many times as the words and wishes of God are communicated to the people. Slavery is biblical. However, I tend to lean toward the belief that it is immoral… so freedom must be “of the flesh”… but “let my people go!” and the cry for freedom for slavery is biblical also… CONTEXT… UNDERSTANDING… TOLERANCE.. LOVE.

I feel certain that many of us can find a biblical text to support our stance. Wouldnt it be nice to be able to discuss our positions without assuming everyone else except us was wrong?

Lets remember…. The “flesh” is also biblical.. Created by God … IN HIS OWN image. Being “less than perfect” or “of the flesh” is a gift of life… Given by God. AND…. Lest we forget, in our fervor to defend our positions from all those that must be wrong (because they dont think like me). God sent Jesus to wash away our sins.. as a living breathing MAN (of the flesh) to DIE, so we may have salvation. Therefore, my understanding would be that, being “of the flesh” is not “less than biblical” .. and to the contrary… IS EXACTLY and PERFECTLY biblical.

Something that is seriously bothering me in some of these comments is the ignorance of the fact that God CHOSE to make every single person walking the earth at this very moment and loves them all the SAME! Jesus was the Son of God and a perfect man. He loves every one just as His Father loves. If we are going to be more like Jesus, isn’t love the most important thing? Some of us do not judge others for using foul language. Some of us love homosexuals. We also love heterosexuals and Christians and Jews and Muslims and Atheists. Not all of us are Republicans. I myself identify as “moderate”, politically. It is outrageous to ignore science… God has basically created a map for us to figure out all the answers of life’s most basic questions. Granted, we may not agree with some things scientists tell us, at least we have some sort of idea of why things were made, how they were made, why things have happened, and how they happened. Every one making comments about this pastor is basically insinuating that they are better than him! See #7… This is why some of us feel the need to defend ourselves as Christians with articles like this, because of the people who spew hatred and spit their holier-than-thou attitudes in the faces of non-believers and fence riders. It speaks volumes that you would show hatred and judgement on the man who wrote this article. I am a Christian and I love you, and you, and you. I wish everyone could/would live that way!

Vehemently hostile comments/actions are always thrown around when people are trying their best to follow God’s lead for their lives. And those comments/actions come from both sides, but I’ve found they mainly come from the self-righteous “Christians.”

Oh my. Anonymous is so desperate to be right he just can’t give up. Honestly as a foriegn missionary child (SBC) raised on a foreign mission field returning to the USA and the self righteous prigs like anonymous was why I left the church for 8 years and still at times find myself wanting to avoid so called Christians. They are so “godly” that no one can stand them and they are the truly ugly ones out there. Jesus found the down and out sinners and avoided the pharisees for a reason. And any idiot who is stupid enough to think the wine was watered to impotency or was really not wine is totally uneducated. It was wine. It was the best wine. The people were celebrating and there were drunks in the mix. And Jesus drank it too. Grow up. I have found Americans to be the most narrowminded undereducated fools around.

Then Jesus could not be the perfect lamb of God if what you say is true! The Bible says a drunkard will not enter into the gates of heaven…why would Jesus then make a wine that someone anyone…just one person would get drunk on?? He would have caused his brother to fall…to sin…and Christ WAS THE PERFECT Lamb…He was without blemish. Then this shows us there is no way Christ could have turned this water into a wine that could be drunk to get drunk…(he had no control how much people drank…so he would never have done such a thin!) Even Timothy had to be told when he was sick to drink a little wine to make his stomach feel better! But since we are talking of wine…then why are Christians drinking beer? vodka?mixed drinks? The Bible only mentions wine! which many scholars say was not potent at all even the good wine..that the wine we have now has a lot more alcoholic content! I do not see myself as better than anyone else…but I do care for everyone…I care that they see the truth and that they are serving Christ and that they make it to heaven! I care about that! I want people to question and read God’s word…the only way to know Christ is through his word and if you know Christ uyou would know the things on this post are not what Christ would agree with at all! The reason I think you can’t stand Christians is because of hypocricy….they act one way in church and do another in the real world…but now they want to do what they do in the real world and have the church accept it also….that way they don’t have to be a hypocrite! but that doesn’t make it right! Now satan wins because he is getting everyone to not feel convicted but to just accept it all. Jesus found the sinners and the sinners came to him…but he didn’t just accept them…he told them to change and repent and to sin no more!

9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

It is nice to know that Moses pretended to be drunk off the grapes out of the vineyard that did not contain alcohol…. was not allowed to enter heaven… Try reading Genesis 9:20-21 – Since we are so sure of everythng and so busy throwing bible verses around like confetti…

Reading this post is very sad, There is no respect how can he refers to Jesus as he knows how to keep the party going” he made the wine so? “so should we all drink and be like just everyone else right? NO! This post is very wrong!

Wow. The judgments about someone NONE OF YOU EVER KNEW is astounding. Maybe try analysing real world issues instead. Or start an equally pointless thread about the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus‎. This ‘who knows Jesus better’ argument is getting retarded. If any of you want something legitimate to argue about go to theyarelyingtoyou.wordpress.com. I like to make sure there’s something to upset just about anyone.

If the Bible says Jesus was perfect and without sin…and a drunkard will not enter into the gates of heaven…and we are told to not cause your brother to fall…if anyone was to have “partied” at the wedding and got drunk then Jesus would have ended up doing the very thing he tells us not to do by turning water into real wine and then even one person getting drunk, correct? He would have caused his brother to sin and that is not Jesus! Its interesting that pastors who never drank and now claim that Jesus turned water into wine so now they have decided that drinking is ok…and they are drinking beers with their friends and others in church….notice picture is of beer….did jesus turn water into beer? or because the Bible says wine that that means any alcohol we can consume vodka, beer, anything? I also learned that wine back in Jesus time even as an alcohol does not have the same alcohol content as we do now. We as Christians are to be different and not of this world…others should be able to tell that we are different. As for homosexuality…it is a sin..just as lying is a sin and having sex with someone and not married. God Hates the sin. No sin is different…yet churches are changing and trying to make the Christians feel like they should accept homosexual sin and love love love. We are NEVER to accept sin! God will never accept sin! Churches say there is such a thing now as a GAY CHRISTIAN…as long as you don’t act upon your thoughts then its ok….why would someone want to keep the label then gay?? and Christian?? the two don’t even go together….I love people…I will never accept that sin is ok…while on subject …if churches say you can be a gay Christian then I guess we can have pedifile Christians too…and animal sex Christians….as long as they don’t act upon the sex then its ok??? Hmmm now that doesn’t sound very good does it? GOD IS COMING SOON EVERYONE!! SOONER THAN SOON! ARE YOU READY?? The Bible even says 2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. Yes, God loves us and people….but He hates the sin. We are to repent of our sins and sin no more! Can’t you see?? God’s Word has shown us what to watch out for…I fear for people to be led like lambs to the slaughter! Churches are becoming more accepting of things that are unacceptable and told not to say anything or else we are the bad apple spoiling the bunch! We are not to keep quiet! To say it is ok for someone to swear in front of you??? and say as a Christian its ok ??? Seriously?? The person swearing and saying sorry knows that it is horrible language and that they really shouldn’t to begin with…that word is called “Conviction” something churches are afraid to preach about because they don’t want to hurt someones feelings and they like the money coming in and the large attendance. Churches are like the school systems…we don’t want to make someone feel bad or hurt their feelings so we will make everything happy! You can’t grow as a Christian without conviction! The Bible has warned us of these things…and that they are to come to pass…everything that is happening has to happen because Christ has said so…its just that we need to make sure we are living our lives according to God’s Word. All of these things that were put in here are not right! People THINK!! Read God’s Word if you Read then you will know Christ! Christ would not be any of these things! If you knew Christ you would stay far from it! Christ is Coming Sooner than Soon and I really do hope that you turn towards his word get on your knees , repent and pray that God show you the right way. Satan is only out in this world to destroy you…he wants you to go to hell. He is the master of deceit! He wants you to join him in the fiery pits of hell! We have to listen to God and not man! We have to read his word so we can discern good from evil! from lies told and false prophets! Christ is coming sooner than soon!!!! Do not be deceived!!!

12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

YES Christine, it seems there are many who just do not know the Word of God or seem not to have spent much alone time with the Lord allowing the transformation by the Holy Spirit to convict them. This is usual for newer Christians, “babies who are still drinking milk of the Word.” However, not teachers who should be seasoned and know the Word. We must love and pray for those on the wrong path; they will be held accountable for those they make fall.

“My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” James 3:1

“If you love me, you will obey my commands.” John 14:15
You cannot obey His commands if you don’t know HIS WORD.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that LEADS TO DESTRUCTION, and there are many who go in by it. because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. you will know them by their fruits….Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. therefore by their fruits you will know them. not everyone who says to me, lord lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN. Many will say to Me in that day “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS!” MATTHEW 13-23 (exclamation the Lords)

I pray for all the brethren that they grow in the knowledge and wisdom of our Lord.

Helen, thank you for the verses you put out…I wasn’t sure what you were saying…until I looked up Brett on facebook and found out that he is only a young man and now what you have said makes sense….but he is a man and responsible to God for the things he says, writes about, and leads others and like the verse says..in James 3:1 He will be held accountable to a stricter judgement. I will join with you and pray for others and Brett that they grow in the knowledge and wisdom of our Lord. It just saddens me deeply when I see other men and women praising him and agreeing with him for his 10 Christian stereotypes..and his strong word of hate. Your verse in Matthew was another reminder of how important we stay in God’s Word and in constant prayer. Satan is working harder than ever because he knows his end is near and wants no one else to enjoy eternity in heaven but to burn in eternal hell. As for God’s will in my life I like Thessalonians 5:16-18…Rejoice Always pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Wow, so many people get so tripped up over minor issues. Yes Jesus loves people and condemned the Pharisees who with their righteous attitudes caused people to stumble. I prefer to call myself a follower of Jesus rather than Christian these days due to the ambiguity and negativity associated with Christian. Jesus is my example for how to treat people from all walks of life. He loved them and engaged them first and they were drawn to Him for that reason and they desired to change the more they were around Him and He affected their lives. You cannot Clean the Fish before you Catch the Fish as Joyce Meyer would say.

I want to be like Jesus I want to light up a room with His fragrance and aroma and I want everyone who comes in contact with the Jesus in me to feel special and appreciated whether they are homosexual, alcoholic, suffering with Schizophrenia, a prostitute and on and on. I have been forgiven much and I do not take it for granted and God desires that we do not continue to sin because He is well aware of the effects/consequences of sin. The closer we get to Jesus the less we want to disappoint Him but it must start with Love and Relationship period or we are not effective and we cause others to stumble. I do not want to be the reason someone is turned off to Jesus. I stand for truth that is in the scripture and will not waiver but I will choose to LOVE and not quibble over differences in doctrine. Jesus is my Savior and I am where I am because of his love and forgiveness. No one is too far gone for Jesus to save!

You are “saved” because of a decision you made or a decision God made. You know this, you are proud of this. Because of this you know you are better than the unsaved. So, yes you do think you are better than others.

I have to add one more thing….After prayer and thoughts running through my head during the night…Brett look at some of the posts that support you…is that the support you were looking for? Some of these people feeling “great” that preacher boy is like one of them! They can swear all they want and you welcome it…in fact encourage it! I saw this because of someone from my daughter’s church posted this…and a comment underneath his share of your “10 Christian stereotypes you hate” someone posts “H*** yeah and most people are shocked I am a Christian! lol” People should know we are Christian by how we live our lives living it for the Lord and serving him…our language is definitely part of that. I am actually shocked that when someone is “respecting” your position as a pastor, as a Christian, as someone who serves the Lord…or just plain and simple “RESPECT” would tell someone STOP I hate it when people stop swearing in front of me…you should swear if you want to…that is what you are telling them! I am appalled that you cannot correct someone for swearing in front of you..yet you feel obligated because you hate stereotypes to make a point that its ok to swear in front of you. ITS NOT OK! ITS PLAIN AND SIMPLY FILTHY LANGUAGE AND HAS NO PART OF LIVING A CHRISTIAN LIFE. And in order for you to be comfortable to “correct” them to stop not swearing and to swear in front of you they have to be someone you know! People I don’t know I don’t go around saying stop your language…but if I know people and hang with them and they continue the bad language then yes I would ask them to stop….but I have to say…people normally if they know me won’t swear around me out of respect! Just respect for me as a person! I am shocked to think that you are a youth pastor and wrote this blog…you are welcoming bad behavior and then who are you now to say stop swearing to the youth in your church? You have just let them all know you are OK with swearing. You allow this behavior in your youth groups? Remember if you want to argue this point that they go to church…that doesn’t make them all Christian…they could be visiting..so during your youth meetings…you would tell the youth to go ahead and swear because you want them to do what they normally do in real life. I am appalled! You my dear boy need prayer because you are definitely heading people down the wrong path…and you are held to a higher accountability for being a youth pastor to God’s children and will be judged a lot more harshly! And these are God’s children…Our youth! . We live in this world but we are to not be a part of this world. As far as the drinking I made my comments above…but more so…I have had 2 family members die from alcoholism…one of the young men who died…begged my cousin to stop drinking so that he could stop…she refused…hes dead. With how bad alcoholism is and people hurting and families hurting I would think you would want to abstain just for the fact that you want to be an EXAMPLE…especially as a youth pastor. What will you say to the young man who was drinking with you…had to many drink…drove …and died…what will you say to him in Heaven when he cries out to you..why didn’t you tell me???? Why?? Remember the story of the rich man and the poor man? I would not want to ever be in that place of someone crying out to me from hell! This is why I have said what I have said…I felt an obligation to state the obvious. Satan is so happy you wrote this..leading many astray…many people like this because they want to hear this kind of stuff especially from a pastor…but the Bible speaks out and says if you love the Lord many will hate you…you are not popular because you live your life for Christ. Matthew 10:22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Luke 6:22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. The Hatred of the World
18″If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19″If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.…

Cross References

Proverbs 29:27
The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright.

Isaiah 66:5
Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: “Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy!’ Yet they will be put to shame.

Matthew 10:22
You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:9
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.

John 7:7
The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.

John 16:1
“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away.

John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Acts 14:22
strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

1 John 3:1
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:13
Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.

The list goes on and on! You want to be popular and hate that you are stereotyped? Then you don’t like people saying you are a Christian!

I am not here to make anyone do what I say! You have a choice…God gave everyone a choice to serve him or not! I am only here to bring out the deceit and lies of satan…and to rebuke the things you written here as a pastor. I have spoken out and that is all I can do. My heart really is crying inside to see how this world is changing and I have been a sunday school teacher, awana leader, missionette teacher my entire life and I love children and this breaks my heart, but I know that God has everything in his control and all of these things are to come to pass..We will see more false prophecies and teachings…the God’s Word misconstrued.We as Christians need not be more of the world but more than ever need to be NOT of this world and leading others to Christ. Discernment …please read what Brett has written and see how wrong it is. Just notice he includes “Hate” strong word for the things he hates about “stereotyping Christian”. He is leading others down the wrong path with him and satan is as pleased as he can be….I just pray Brett sees the truth and repents and follows God’s path.

One more things since Brett wanted people to visit his facebook…another example of wrong,..a girl Jennifer picked up on it but didn’t quite know what was wrong…Brett told Jennifer” Everything I’ve written is scripture inspired whether people realize it or not, and that’s why both Christians and non-Christians can relate. I have found in my experience, people don’t care as much “what” the Bible says as they do what it actually means. We can manipulate scriptures to say whatever we want, but that doesn’t make them truth. I try to focus on what the whole Bible means rather than proof-texting what one verse might say. So, just because I attach, or choose not to attach, a scripture doesn’t determine whether or not the statement is true. For example, while it may be beneficial to some, I don’t think attaching Isaiah 9:6 to the statement where I talk about God as being the “Prince of Peace” makes it any more or any less truthful, or any more or less “worldly.” Hope that answers your question!

He has to convince people that its scripture inspired…people should know it…if not then he needs to have scripture put in there to back up what he says….He goes on to say people don’t care what the Bible says as to what it actually means.WHAT??? This is wrong on so many levels. This is already a misleading statement…this would only allow someone like Brett to interpret what the Bible says how they want to interpret it and not how God has meant for it to be interpreted….The Bible is our BOOK We are to read it and know it and hide it in our hearts and to know the Bible is to know Christ. If we don’t know what the Bible says then that is how we can be misled, and deceived by the devil himself. Never let someone just interpret the Bible and not show you scripture….You should always check with scripture with what someone has said. Taken from his 9 struggles Christians face
3. Confusion about the Bible’s apparent contradictions

While most Christians believe the Bible lines up together perfectly, sometimes, at first glance, the scriptures can appear to contradict each other. For example, Jesus is referred to as the “Prince of Peace.” Contrary to that, the Older Testament is also filled with God bringing wrath, death, and destruction. How can God be both the “God of peace” and the “God of death?” While there are explanations for this, when we face something in Christianity that we don’t understand, it can shake our faith.

Why would he say this as his third point? Confusion about the Bible’s apparent conraditions! The Bible is infallible…it has no contradictions! No apparent Contradictions!

Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit they are the 3 in one! They are all separate but all one! Jesus is the Prince of Peace…The Older Testament is before Christ and talking about God…God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we might be saved..John 3:16 For God so loved the World that be begat his only son that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life. The curtain was torn in half when Jesus died so that now we could go to Christ ourselves…Jesus is the mediator for us…God hates sin…he flooded the world…he destroyed Sodom and Gomorah…he cannot stand Sin. God loves us. Just because God loves us does not mean he will not be sending us to hell if we are not confessing our sins and asking Christ into our lives and serving him! Then we have the Holy Spirit! Nothing is confusing or contradictory in God’s Word….

I had to speak up about this also! People always read the word and compare it to everything said. Never just listen and think what someone says is right…always go to the Bible.

When I first read the post by Brett, I smiled. I thought it was cute, a little funny, and a nice “lift” to my day. I really do not normally get involved in online discussions. For some reason, I feel like I should be involved in this one and help provide a little cover for Brett. I have never met him. I wouldnt know him if I saw him. However, in my opinion, I think he nailed it when he wrote this blog.

I have seldom seen ( and am really surprised and somewhat disappointed by) the venom, snideness, and vitriol that has been written here in response to this obviously tongue-in-cheek blog writing. The tone that several of you have presented is nothing short of condescending and mean…. whether you had good intentions or not. You appear to immediately judge anyone that that does not share your exact interpretation of whatever verse you can pull from the bible… whether it is in context or not. I can appreciate your passion, but I must be simpleminded, because I can not for the life of me understand how you could believe that belittling someone promotes your position.

When we look at the complete compilation of the Gospels and the life of Christ, the picture is clear. Christ LOVED mankind. Christ showed COMPASSION for mankind. Christ made the effort to be KIND to those he met. As Christ prepared himself and the disciples for the crucifixion, John 13:34-35 tells us he offered the disciples a NEW commandment… ” A new command I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We notice that Jesus takes great pains at other times to be kind and caring to those that are frowned upon by the jewish law and hierarchy. He dines and drinks with tax collectors and prostitutes… He admonishes those “knowledgeable” and learned administrators of Jewish law that interpret the law literally and in strict confines of the word of law, rather than the intended spirit of the law. He offers grace and redemption to the thief. He tells us the story of the prodigal son and the Samaritan. He reaches out to the less fortunate and down trodden. He associates with those that society as a whole, and even the disciples themselves frown upon associating with. He offers kindness, forgiveness, and warming love to those that may not have ever felt it expressed before. We notice that Jesus had a temper and could be righteous, as he cleared the temple of the moneychangers, that were allowed in the and around the temple by those keepers of the “law” and the priests. Overall, the Gospels take great pains to enlighten us as to Christ’s humanity and simultaneous Godliness. The Gospels show us that Jesus was teaching us how to live… and how to interact with each other.

I wonder, in reading the long list of comments, if it is possible that some become so entrenched in being “right” and “strict obeyers” of the “law”… that they have lost sight of the INTENT of the law.. to show kindness.. to show love.. to offer compassion.. to express empathy.. to do good to/ for those less fortunate… to be welcoming and invite to dinner those that do not have knowledge. To address people in a manner they can understand and relate to…

Having written all of this… In my opinion….Harshness rarely encourages positive change. (while it may discourage some negative activity – it is not the same thing as encouraging positive activity) Beating someone over the head with bible verses designed to make them feel bad seldom draws people closer… and many times does exactly the opposite… by encouraging a people to associate Christianity with negativity rather than the wonderful good news that Christ LOVED us enough to DIE for us and save us from our sins. Belittling Brett, insinuating that he is still a child or hasnt grown enough to be as knowledgeable as some of the great theologians that are posting here, or immediately jumping down the throat of anyone that responds with an opinion that differs from yours… all while you are standing on the top of the hill enlightening, condemning, judging, and berating …. is (again in my opinion) just a little self serving, and possible an overcompensation for ignorance or a lack of understanding. Possibly, some are unable to see the beauty of the forest for the trees.

My job as a youth director ( and I am not a young pup ) is to reach out to youth and adults alike and SHOW them the LOVE and GRACE of Christ. To first, DO NO HARM… To work to reach and heal the sick where they are… not to admire the pictures of the saints in a museum. Hypocrisy, feigning perfection, fear mongering, and negative messages do very little to encourage someone to WANT to learn more about the love Jesus has for them. I dont look for sick people in a sterile environment. Standing in the garage doesnt make me a car. Sitting in the pew and spouting like a parrot doesnt make me a Christian. If I am going to go make disciples for Christ – I have to associate with those that do not know Christ. Yeah… it is not always pretty. It is not always perfect..Sometimes it is downright UGLY… but IF I am going to reach out and touch the “untouched by Christ”.. I, like Jesus, have to go where they are… and communicate with them in ways that they can understand.. not sit in a sterile environment with others patting each other on the back and telling each other what good people we are..

Relax. Laugh at yourself some.. Love one another. SHOW love to one another.

12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I am definitely passionate about what Brett has said because I have a heart for children. I said nothing in anger…I said that I do love people..I said I wrote what I wrote because I care and that I cannot just sit back and say nothing. Jesus only sat down with the tax payer after the tax payer sought him out…Christ knew he wanted to meet him…and did Jesus leave the tax payers house with the tax payer still cheating the people? NO…The taxpayer changed his life and did what was right. Don’t make it look like Christ was going around hanging around with non believers and not expecting them to change but just love love love all around for all and no change….the prostitute…she sought out Christ and she repented and he told her to go and sin no more..

If you think because I spoke out against Brett harshly because I feel so strongly that he is going against God’s very Word then so be it.my concern is for the children that they not be led astray that they always research and compare what is said in the Bible to what is being said. I am shocked that you would rebuke me….as a youth pastor yourself when I foolishly assume that you would agree that stopping people who are trying to not swear that it is fine to swear…The Bible says people will hate the one who serves him and be persecuted….I would rather speak up and hope that Brett sees the error of his ways and repents and changes than say nothing at all and in Heaven be held accountable for saying nothing at all. I do not sit around all cozy….I am out there loving people, serving people helping people letting people know yes we are all sinners and I am probably the worst of them all but God loves us and when we repent of our sins any sin it is completely written out of the book and we have a completely clean slate…God doesn’t come back to get us but when we sin we do reap what we sow.

I would be wrong in not standing up for Christ and not saying something to Brett…I am just surprised that a youth pastor finds that when someone is speaking wrongly that they would rebuke another Christian for speaking up about it…sometimes the truth hurts and isn’t pretty…but it has to be said. You love the word love love love…Yes, God does love us… Matthew 7:21-23New American Standard Bible (NASB)

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

You list your deeds…..but all of that doesnt’ matter if you are not doing what is right and what is written in the Bible.

There are many positions in the church …maybe yours is to be loving and king…mine is the gift of discernment and God has used me many times to speak out against wrongs. It definitely isn’t a popular gift…I don’t expect people to change…but like Nathanael I will do what God wants and asks and speak out…if we as Christians just love then we will lose many to satan and his deceived We cannot change love into accept everything.

God gave everyone a choice. I am not here to make anyone choose…I am here to bring the truth speak out against what is wrong. If you think me speaking out against what is wrong and hurting his feelings…instead of saying all nicey nicey things then I guess I am on the right track with God.

Remember, I am also speaking to a youth pastor Brett. who is a christian…I am not talking to a non-Christian….

Also Jerome….from what I am understanding from you…Brett posts a blog….I am not commenting because its not in agreement with my opinion…its because it is not in agreement to God’s Word. Brett put it out there and I am responding. The way you are talking to me you are telling me that when a Christian is doing something that is wrong and sinning…we as a Christian also should just love them and say nothing. That Christians should sit back and love everyone and accept everyone for who they are and be everyone’s friend. That my friend is very unbiblical! You also are trying to do the same thing to me….you think I should say nothing and let the poor boy lead many children down the wrong path with him….NO I WILL NOT! I care about people that is why I am speaking up!!! I want them to see the truth and not to be deceived! I want people to be prepared because Christ is coming soon! I want people to be saved! Me sitting back and saying nothing and just loving will prepare people from satan and eternal damnation! Scared to think of your conversation with John the Baptist! So Christians shouldn’t speak up in politics. Christians shouldn’t speak up for pro abortion, etc etc because we should love everyone and never disagree and speak up for what is right..I didn’t see the word love in Brett’s title I saw hate. I didn’t see him say something nice about republicans he was insinuating the latter… did you? But you feel the need to protect him. …you also treat him as a boy by saying you need to protect him.

And you’re saying that all of us should be thankful that we have a little bible Hitler like you around to correct us? People like you are the reason I, and many others, left the church in the first place.

And again I say wow. I’m admittedly as far from ‘christian’ as it gets, but many of you have made me feel great about myself for not being the kind of judgmental ass that picks at people cause they don’t share exactly the same views. Seems we went over to Germany some time ago to squash a little dude that was just like that.

And again I say wow. I’m admittedly as far from ‘christian’ as it gets, but many of you have made me feel great about myself for not being the kind of judgmental ass that picks at people cause they don’t share exactly the same views. Seems we went over to Germany some time ago to squash a little dude that was just like that.

You claim you are not judgemental and pick at people because they don’t share your views…and then you say this?

sectioneight2014 | September 5, 2014 at 6:33 AM

And you’re saying that all of us should be thankful that we have a little bible Hitler like you around to correct us? People like you are the reason I, and many others, left the church in the first place.

This has nothing to do with my views. My views are that all your voodoo hokum and nonsense religion is about as backwards as beliefs can get, but I’m not ramming it down your throat. I believe anyone can believe what they like. It doesn’t effect me either way

If there are no contradictions, how do you determine, for example, the number of people who arrived at Jesus’ tomb?
Mark 16 says a “young man” greeted the women.
Luke 24 says “two men.”
John 20 says that the women saw nobody there.

This is sad to me. Please do not preach love and acceptance for all, except Republicans. There are many, many people within my church, that, face to face, I am sure you would find to be wonderful people….and they most likely call themselves Republican.Yet, the snide comments by readers continue. The call should be to unite ourselves in Christ.

Let’s forget the new wine, old wine argument for a minute and consider this. You are sitting at the restaurant having your drink, since “most” people hold this stereotype of Christians don’t drink, would you be any different than the world? Let’s add the fact that as a “preacher boy” you are to be the example to believers of living for Christ and not yourself, are you encouraging your brothers and sisters to be holy? One more thing try and witness with that drink in your hand and see how profitable you are as a witness. There are stereotypes for a reason, because they are true and you not trying to fit into this stereotypical role as a believer means that you will be in the stereotypical role as the lost person trying to make excuses for sin that hinders them. Let’s look at it this way, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. It says this about him as judgment was forecast to destroy the world. He was able to save his family from the destruction to come. Lot was a righteous man, yet he chose to be in the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then we see him in the town and next he is in the gates or a leader of the city. God says he vexed his very soul by hanging around sin and his entire family was lost in sin. In these days of impending destruction I would encourage you to be a Noah and not a Lot, not because it is stereotypical but because our God is HOLY, and deserves the absolute best from each of us. I don’t think you can be at your best with a drink in your hand.

Speaking up and saying something is Biblically wrong from one in Christ to another in Christ is not arguing. I do not see anyone here “forcing” Brett to do anything. I see others speaking to Brett in love, caring, and not wanting to see him lead others down the wrong path and himself. We are told do so in the Bible. It is all up to Brett if he chooses to listen to what is told him. That is all! We have spoken up and that is what Christ has told us to do. The rest Brett is responsible to Christ for what he writes and how he leads the youth under him and to the others that listen to his words and watch how he lives his life and follow him…Brett alone will stand before God and his judgement will be between him and God. At least we spoke up and listened to what God has said and we have done our part. Brett will not be able to say to me why didn’t I say something ! But I do know this…there is definitely no arguing going on around here.

As to what Derek has written he is spot on! He explained things perfectly! He is arguing with no one.

I find it interesting in the world today…the world is trying to shut Christians up…by saying we are haters, we are racists, etc. etc. The world does not want Christians to speak the truth about the Bible, People don’t want to hear the truth…they want to hear the lies…2 Timothy 4:3.New International Version
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. This is what I see from those who like Brett’s post, . As I read some of the posts by those who agree with what Brett has said they say we only hate also..and that we argue…or as you have said “fight like those muslims in the middle east”…there is no fighting! What an awful and horrible analogy knowing too that ISIS fighting is murdering the innocent and the young. You want to say it…and make others think it..i see a lot of name calling too….but in truth its not happening….I see people only speaking in love and in scripture. I

I have six children….I love them all. When they were little and wanted what they wanted or did something they weren’t suppose to they would sometimes turn to me and say I hate them…even when they were teenagers they would say I hate them. because I won’t let them do what they wanted to do…they said that our of anger and hoping I would give in…but they knew in their hearts I loved them dearly and only corrected them because they were wrong and needed to learn to do what is right….this is what is happening in the world…and Christ has said that if we love him we will be hated by those in the world. Just because I corrected my children that doesn’t mean I don’t love them. I corrected them BECAUSE I loved them! Just as I and others have corrected Brett..We love him and that is why we have corrected him.

I REBUKE YOU SATAN IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!!!! JESUS!! JESUS!! JESUS!! PRAISE BE TO JESUS!! OUR PRECIOUS LORD JESUS!!

Hey everyone, since there are so many Christians on this site I thought you would not mind taking a break from the debate here to pray for PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ WHO ARE BEING BEHEADED, INCLUDING CHILDREN. Here is the email I received that originated Crisis Relief International. I checked Truth or Fiction website regarding the email and it is TRUE. PLEASE PRAY! PLEASE, LET US ALL PRAY!

Dear Friends,

Just a few minutes ago I received the following text message on my phone from Sean Malone who leads Crisis Relief International (CRI). We then spoke briefly on the phone and I assured him that we would share this urgent prayer need with all of our contacts.
“We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food to. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our CRI team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it’s staff in Erbil. Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!”

Please pray sincerely for the deliverance of the people of Northern Iraq from the terrible advancement of ISIS and its extreme Islamic goals for mass conversion or death for Christians across this region.

May I plead with you not to ignore this email. Do not forward it before you have prayed through it. Then send it to as many people as possible.

Send it to friends and Christians you may know. Send it to your prayer group. Send it to your pastor and phone him/her to pray on Sunday during the service – making a special time of prayer for this. We need to stand in the gap for our fellow Christians.

I saw another blog posted that speaks volumes to this topic. THE FRUIT OF SELF-CONTROL is a mature fruit, one of the more difficult to attain……..I pray those that are taking the posts of God’s Word poorly can humble themselves and reread the scriptures only, not anyones statements and ask the Holy Spirit to teach them.

Welcome to the online home of Tim Challies, blogger, author, and book reviewer.
CHRISTIAN LIVING
The Lost Virtue of Self-Control
August 29, 2014
There are two different lives I lead. Two different kinds of life. There is the life I love, but that is so difficult to maintain, and there is the life I hate, but am so often tempted toward. The first is a life of discipline and self-control, while the second is a life of disorganization and instability. I love the first life, but am constantly sliding toward the second.
The Bible commends self-control and discipline. We are told that self-control is fruit of the Spirit, an imprint of God’s presence in our lives. We are told to discipline and train ourselves to godliness (1 Timothy 4:7), to labor for habits and patterns that will drive us toward holy thoughts, holy desires, and holy lives.
I consider self-control a lost virtue, a quality we too easily ignore. I think we can be uncomfortable with the very idea of self-control because we love to emphasize grace. Somehow grace seems to equate with freedom from structure, with freedom from rigidity. We revel in the freedom of the gospel, not realizing that the gospel doesn’t free us from self-control, but to self-control. Because we are no longer counting on our habits and patterns to discipline us toward salvation, we can joyfully mobilize them to discipline us toward sanctification.
Self-control and discipline are gifts we can use to constrain sin and promote holiness. They are gifts we can use to hinder old habits and promote new, better patterns.
I love my life of discipline and self-control. I hate my life of confusion and instability. And yet that life is always beckoning, always calling. The very moment I begin coasting, I coast away from restraint and toward chaos. I coast away from discipline and toward disorganization.
As a Christian I am influenced by an old man and a new man, the man I was and the man I am becoming. The new man loves to see each moment as a gift of God that must be stewarded well; the old man loves to fritter away time and opportunity, one moment at a time. The new man sees the benefit of living a disciplined life; the old man insists it is just not worth the effort. The new man sees that patterns and habits can be renewed and redeemed and used for good; the old man screams that this is weakness, a crutch for the person who lacks better motivation.
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• The Danger of Coasting
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As summer gives way to fall — as summer’s chaos gives way to fall’s schedule — this is the time to renew my commitment to a life of self-control, a life that is disciplined toward godliness. It is time to renew my commitment to their sheer goodness, and their plain value. There is no better time than right now.

“The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.”

I have to tell you all something… I was actually interested in what the author had to say until all you zealots started your stupid bickering and jousting with your supposed biblical knowledge. Ughh! This is why I can’t even start to listen to you people at all. Just disgusting.

There is not bickering here. Many here are sharing the Word of God in concern for baby believers that would be lead astray from the actual Word of God. So many just drink what is given without thought and study for themselves. Brett shared things that are just not right with the Word and many would like those reading to hear the Truth. But it seems that many here do not want to hear truth.
I love today’s devotion in Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest:
“It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience of SANCTIFICATION that the FIGHT begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done on ly by a series of MORAL choices. Thes choices are continually in ANTAGONISM to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD. We can eiher go back and make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can determinedly DEMOLISH these things and let jesus bring another son to glory.” I pray that those here questioning the actual, scriptural, Word of God being shared, will do their own research, praying and asking the Lord to show them His truth and not just drink in false teachings that are not scriptural. Jesus said “if you love me, you will obey me.” you cannot obey if you do not know His Word.
God Bless you all and your walk with our Lord.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

“The truth is, I love science and it doesn’t crumble my faith at all. I am just as interested as you are to see how God did it and have yet to come across something that totally shakes my faith to the core on whether or not there was a creator.” So everything that science proves is really just showing “how God did it.” The ever-moving target…..

To paraphrase an atheist quote I heard once: “If I was God, and I could stop a child from being molested, I’d do it.” I’m sure you’ve got a great explanation as to why thousands and thousands of children are raped and abused (and a lot by actual “representatives” of god and the church), or are taken as toddlers from their parents due to cancer, or other illnesses. If you’ve NEVER seen something that shakes your faith to the core, you don’t have your eyes open.